Jetting Off to the Philippines!

Nov 4th

We woke up at 5am this morning, it was miserable. Our decision to book morning flights so we wouldn’t waste a full day of traveling has backfired since we spent the whole day being exhausted. We were out the door by 5:15am in order to catch the 5:30am bus to the airport, of course it was late and we could have slept an extra 20 minutes, but that’s beside the point. Jess and I were surprisingly chatty on the 1 hour bus ride to the airport. We checked in and had plenty of time to kill at the walking around the terminal. We traded our subway cards and got our deposits back, grabbed breakfast and changed over our extra money into Philippine Pesos (there‘s a great exchange rate here, $1USD=48Pesos, everything is super cheap). We boarded the plane and quickly found out the plane was practically empty so Jess and I could spread out a bit  which was nice. The two of us passed out immediately upon sitting down. I slept the whole ride, only waking a few times to change positions or realize that I was drooling all over myself. 

The flight was two hours (although it could have been 4 and I’m sure I would have slept every moment), but we were about 20 minutes late due to bad weather. When we arrived in Manila we were shocked to see it was dark and overcast. We haven’t seen rain in weeks (besides Beijing which was late at night and really didn’t alter our plans in any way). We collected our bags and made our way through customs- both very pleased by the number of stamps we’re collecting in our passports.

We grabbed a taxi and headed for our hostel. It was a bit of a challenge to find but we enjoyed the ride taking in all of the scenery that we could. We noticed that there was some damage from the flooding that they have had recently, but everything is open and people appear to be functioning as normal. We also noticed that many people here have guns, this kind of shocked us at first, but we‘re not getting used to the idea. It is very tropical here, and I really wish we had more time to explore places outside of the city. Looks like they have great scuba diving, but I don’t think I’ll have a change for that unfortunately.

The hostel that were staying in is very interesting. Its located on a somewhat popular side street in the Makati section of Manila. There’s a cute looking bar next door, although it seems like the building that were in is mostly all apartments. The hostel, Our Melting Pot, is located on the 5th floor and is run by a woman and a man. The hostel is in a 1-bedroom loft apartment. You walk into the downstairs with a tiny kitchen and a half bath. There’s a desk to check in as well as a computer that we can use, a TV and a couch. Upstairs is the open air loft with 4 bunk beds and a full bath. I keep telling Jess how much I like it here and would love to have an apartment like this someday all for myself. it really isn’t a big  place at all, it would be a perfect apartment for 1 or a couple.

We spent some time looking at a travel book and a map that the hostel gave us, but were both exhausted. The women who checked us in, Chato, was very friendly and asked us a bunch of questions and began mapping out our time in Manila for us. She said she'd remember our names because we were like
Jessica Alba and Katie Homes"- I liked that she scored big points with me. I'd marry Tom Cruse any day. She finally caught on to the fact that we were tired for mich sightseeing and suggested a spa. The owner, Ronald took a break from work and came to the hostel to meet us (this is a very small and personal place!) and continued to plan our day. At this point it was pouring outside and the idea of walking around in 90 degree weather when it was pouring and we were exhausted sounded horrible. We asked Ronald more about the spa that  and decided it was a perfect idea for us. We jumped in a cab and were off.

The spa was called Wensha Spa. It was a huge place. For the equivalent of $15 USD we got 6 hours to enjoy the pool, hot tub, sauna, steam, all you can eat buffet and a 1 hour full body massage. We took full advantage. We were both starving at this point and started with the buffet. It was all Philippine food- most of which I didn’t like. I had a lot of rice. I did really love this soup that they had a lot of mix-ins Basically how it worked was the wait staff would set up with hotplate right on the table and add spices and garlic then you would grab whatever veggies you wanted from the buffet and add them to the soup. The beef or chicken was added next. The soup cooked for about 10 minutes and was ready to eat. I really enjoyed it. We had banana ice cream for dessert, it was great. From there we decided it was time for our body message. We changed into the robe and silk short set that was provided and headed to the massage area. Jess and I shared a room and before long two Philippines women a little older than us came in. Jess’s lady was much more talkative than mine was, which was fine with me- I wanted to relax. Jess’s lady made several comments that definitely were inappropriate. She asked me why I was bigger than Jess, and if Jess’s boobs were real, and why we didn’t have boyfriends and weren’t married. I guess they we’re trained in foreign etiquette- although we tried to make it clear with our responses that they were being rude to us. I felt kind of uncomfortable because I was basically completely naked the whole time and there was no door on our room and people kept walking by, I guess we’re not in America anymore. Regardless, it was definitely a cultural experience and a great message. From there we headed to the pool we showered before entering then soaked in the nice hot water. The pool was huge! It even had a huge projector screen playing TV (a Pilipino soap opera that was very dramatic) that was enormous. From there we showered and changed back into the robes provided and headed  to the manicure area to get a little more pampered. For about $7USD extra I got a manicure and pedicure. Since I had gotten my feet done the day before they focused rubbing my feet and painting them, which I was dying for. The manicure came out great as well. We finished our experience by having around meal at the buffet- all the same foods again, but this time we knew that we liked and wanted to try. We changed, settled up our bill and jumped in a taxi back to the hostel.

We were exhausted and decided that it would be best if we both got a good nights sleep- we need it! We were in bed shortly after 9pm!

Bye for now.
Love,
Katie.